American Airlines Moves Boston to Toronto Flights to New York-JFK

American will soon be eliminating its Boston to Toronto route and replacing it with flights from New York-JFK. These flights will help bring traffic through New York-JFK, a hub for American and JetBlue, and serve as another option to Canada’s largest city.

Elimination of Boston to Toronto Route

American currently serves Boston to Toronto twice daily on an Embraer 175 aircraft. Unfortunately, this service will be eliminated on January 9, 2023.

You may wonder why American served this somewhat odd transborder flight, when Boston technically isn’t a hub for American (or, at least a large hub). American was hoping that this flight would bring traffic from Toronto through Boston, where passengers could then connect to Northeast Alliance partner JetBlue, which has a significant hub in Boston.

JetBlue serves a ton of destinations from Boston, including many transcontinental flights, and routes with the premium Mint product.

Restarting of New York-JFK to Toronto Route

Since the Boston route wasn’t as profitable as American was expecting, the airline will be attempting service from New York-JFK, starting on January 10, 2023. Like Boston, JetBlue operates a ton of flights out of JFK and this is the primary departure point for transcontinental services, such as the one to Los Angeles (LAX) and flights to London (LHR) as well.

The route will be served twice a day on an Embraer 175 according to the following schedule:

• Depart Toronto (YYZ) at 6:05 a.m. — Arrive New York (JFK) at 7:54 a.m.
• Depart New York (JFK) at 7:54 a.m. — Toronto (YYZ) at 9:46 a.m.
• Depart Toronto (YYZ) at 6:00 p.m. — Arrive New York (JFK) at 7:49 p.m.
• Depart New York (JFK) at 9:59 p.m. — Toronto (YYZ) at 11:49 p.m.

Clearly, the departure and arrival times are scheduled to allow connections in Toronto and New York, which is nice so you won’t have to worry about overnighting in either city.

This route was previously served in 2019, so this isn’t an entirely new flight for American, though obviously the Northeast Alliance with JetBlue has been built up significantly since then, so it likely will allow for more profitability.

Hot Tip: It’s worth noting that when you fly out of Toronto, you will complete a pre-clearance border process in Toronto, so when you arrive at JFK, you’ll do so as a domestic passenger and can quickly proceed onto your connecting flight.

Final Thoughts

American is moving its Boston to Toronto flight to New York-JFK with hopes to pick up additional traffic from partner JetBlue. If you’re a New Yorker or connecting in, you’ll now have some additional options to fly nonstop to Toronto!